The Cary High volleyball team is on a mission this season. With nine returning seniors on the 12-woman roster, the Imps want to win the Tri-Eight Conference title and go farther than the second round of the NCHSAA 4-A state tournament where they were ousted last year.

And just to make sure everyone else knows what the team wants to accomplish this season, the phrase “Our Time” is emblazoned across the back of their warm-up T-shirts.

“We were all sophomores together, then juniors and now we feel like we’re seniors, we’ve been playing together, it’s kind of our time to control the conference and rule everybody if it’s possible,” senior Jennifer Zering said.

So far Cary has done just that. It is 5-0 and has convincing wins against Athens Drive on Sept. 4 and Middle Creek on Sept. 5. The Imps defeated the Jaguars 3-0 and the Mustangs 3-1.

The win against Athens was especially sweet because the Jaguars had also been undefeated heading into the match. And even though Cary didn’t play its best, the Imps were able to eke out wins of 25-18, 26-24 and 25-23, thanks in large part to their senior leadership.

“I thought we played sloppy but I also thought that they were the mirror image of us,” Cary coach Philip Goodloe said. “They had big mistakes, we had big mistakes. The score shows just about how even it was. We can play a lot better than that.”

At the start of the first game neither team could gain a substantial lead. But Cary slowly pulled away with more consistent serving and blocking, including one huge block by seniors Brittany Lysik and Courtney Lee for the game point.

In the second game, the Imps were down 20-12 and fought back with strong defense and better serving.

In the third game the Imps again found themselves in a hole and didn’t take their first lead until it was 23-22. Senior Amber Winterton’s next serve made it 24-22, but a well-placed hit by Athens prevented the match from being over. It didn’t last much longer, though, as Cary senior Angie Gontaruk recorded a kill and the match point on the following Athens serve.

“We’re a lot younger team than them but we played just as well,” Athens coach Angela Coticchio said. “They just outplayed us at the end. We were beating them and then we would give up five points or a few points here, a few points there and they outplayed us at the end.”

Goodloe said his team didn’t “explode” when it was down because of his nine seniors. He said the team has a little more heart this year because they know what it takes. The players said they are more focused and want to win — even if that means conditioning a bit more in practice.

“Winning the conference is definitely a goal,” Lysik said. “It’s a reachable goal and we’re gonna get there.”